Being Alexus

Day one.... (first full day)

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:38:14 GMT

Had a huge breakfast on the veranda of scrambled eggs, thick cut bacon, habanero salsa and fresh fruit with an amazing view of the ocean! They have the best fresh squeezed orange juice that we mixed with the champagne. Mmmm....

We slept really late and then ate and walked down to the beach for a bit. A couple more photos for now.

Im off to the pool for some sun and cocktails! We ran in to the band last night who remembered D and invited him to play every day with them. Of course he brought his saxophone so hes playing from 7-9 with them tonight and then at the pool side bar in the afternoons. Thank good he doesn't like to do anything else!

Photos are: The beach.... the view from our suite and the entrance to the resort!

VACAAAAAAATIONNNNNNNN- Day one half.

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 02:56:49 GMT

Alright. We left home at 4:15am. Gawd knows there is something really, really wrong about anyone being up at 4 *ANYTHING* but 4 am on the road... its just WRONG.

Arrived at KCI airport and of course the flight was an hour delayed due to storms or some other kind of lame bs that served only to delay MY VACATION.

Arrived Dallas, TX and immediately were shuttled on to our connecting flight.. settled in LOVELY first class seats and served a pretty crappy wine. Moments later, we were told that the plane had an "issue" (which to me is clearly a reason to disembark) and we had to pack up and head to the plane RIGHT next to ours. Now, Ill make this as simple as it was. We were in Gate D21. The new plane was in D22.

An hour later, we were seated on the new plane and STILL waiting for two people I can only describe as hapless mouth breathing morons who couldnt find their way to THE GATE NEXT TO OURS and wandered the DFW airport for 45 minutes delaying our flight even further.

Met a fabulous flight attendant named Danny who was as funny as he was flamboyant and completely entertained us all the way to Mexico. We got his phone and email for next time he is in KC and plan to show him some of the treats of Kansas City.

Arrived Cancun Airport and were wisked away in a private car (yes, actually wisked) away from those pesky "tourist vans" and delivered albeit late, to the resort here in Puerto Morelos on the Mexican Riveira. Private check in with good champagne and cold towels and someone to unpack our things. (dont you hate being bothered with such tedious things...)

Yes, we came here last year so we know its fabulous but WOW... I had forgotten how turquoise the sea is!

Im incredibly tired as Ive been up since 4am but Im going to post a few photos....

I didnt bring the camera to dinner but we dined at the Italian place and had:
Beef carpaccio in a light vinaigrette with arugula and parmesan
Minestrone with fresh basil and wonderful crunchy fresh veggies
D had a lamb shank osso bucco and parmesan rissotto
I had veal chops in marsala sauce
and we shared an order of cannelloni stuffed with chicken and veal in a white sauce
WOW.
Wine was Chilean and really, really just perfect.

A couple of photos to start the vacation off...

Part of the solid marble bathroom (for my Sissy) with the really fabulous Bvulgari soaps and stuff... and a fresh, long stemmed rose!

This one is the bed, where the maid came in and lit the yummy incense, turned romantic music on, turned down the lights, left us a little sculpture with some dark chocolates, 6 tiny little deserts including a bite of carrot cake with cream cheese, tiramisu and a little apple torte.. and a card telling us the weather for tomorrow... (and a FABULOUS bottle of icy champagne which we are saving for breakfast tomorrow on the veranda with fresh OJ!!

and then.. how cool is this...
WHO has a PRIVATE MASSAGE room in THEIR ROOM??????

Umm.. we do.

:P

Alright.. Im soo tired and tipsy. Im off to snooze but will post more photos when I have time.

Happy Easter!!

Blurry Thursday

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 06:10:28 GMT

Im soooo tired and still have a massive day tomorrow to try and prepare for leaving for vacation on Sat.
Sometimes I think the preparation and hand off for going away is more work than its worth! Full summaries of all of my work, project plan/outlines for the next 10 days, potential challenges, risk assessments.... blahhh...Im only going to be gone for 9 days.

Anyway, leaving on Sat and simply cant WAIT. This time next week Ill be completely relaxed, tan, stuffed and tipsy! :)

Dinner tonight was simple roasted chicken with lots of fresh herbs and garlic and some lemon slices stuffed under the skin. I made some yukon gold mashed potatoes and snow peas in garlic to go with it and served it with an average chardonnay which tasted much better on the third glass. ;)

Got great news from my friend Dark who finally located the photo/print he has been searching for. I tried to help but had no luck even with the amazing "Internets" and "The Google" which were no help what so ever. The search frustrated me to the point where I was dreaming about the picture and that made me even more crazy!
FINALLY WE KNOW:

The artist is Thomas Barbey and his work is fantastic!The photo we had searched for is this one: Tearful Encounter

I can see why he loves it.... I find myself carried away to St. Basil's cathedral in Russia where the couple are dancing. I cant help but wonder why the woman is crying. Is it because she was the dancer and is remembering?

Its the first Ive heard of this artist but found several other pieces of his work that I love.

This one: Splashdown in Venice

and this one: Stumped

Dont you love art that really takes you some where? All of these photos remind me of dreams Ive had and have a strange familiarity. I wonder, do we all dream the same or is he just special?

Im too tired to blog about everything else thats on my mind which of course is politics but I will say that the United States has OFFICIALLY lost its balls and become a whiny, weenie country.

With our dear Captain ZERO out apologizing for everything that has ever made our country great and disgustingly showing his disdain for the people he was elected to represent, he achieved absolutely NOTHING he sought out to do except to make the liberals like him. This "tour" was purely about his ego and the blind worship terrifies me.

At least we have the 22nd amendment which guards against dictatorship by limiting how long an individual can hold the presidency. BUT WAIT!

Already, attempts are underway to change that pesky rule. Rep Jose Serrano (D-NY) has introduced H.J. Resolution 5 to officially repeal the 22nd Amendment.
At least Democrats must fear the public a little, or they wouldn't still be going at this incrementally, instead of just repealing the entire document.

Then we have the PIRATES who attempted to take over one of our cargo ships. The brave crew fought back and regained control while the Captain offered himself up as a hostage to secure the fate of the crew. The boat is now surrounded by our military, who could easily� and within seconds take out those scumbag "pirates" with a shot and call it a day.

Thank HEAVENS Captain Zero is on the job! Obama confidently spoke today on the issue by saying, "Hey, this is like anything else, lets wait and see what the other countries think we should do...No need to be hasty.."

And what about John Kerry, brilliant war hero? John has put his giant foot down and made it clear that we simply WONT stand for this kind of outrageous attack.
He has .... CALLED FOR HEARINGS! Yaaaaahhoooo! I betcha those pirates are shaking in their pleather faux pirate boots about now!

�HEARINGS! Really?

Ok, I admit.. Im grouchy and jaded. I need 8 or 9 days on the beach.

No worries.. Im taking my laptop!!

Happy Thursday.

Saturday night special

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 04:19:18 GMT

D was home for dinner so of course I let him pick the menu. Why does he always choose duck?

Anyway, duck breast grilled over apple/cherry wood after I did a dry rub on it. Topped with a cherry soy glaze and served with white truffle macaroni and cheese and some garlic sauteed green beans.

WOW. We are disgustingly full. Guess this one isn't on the Weight Watchers menu!

Paired with a DeLoach Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley) which was spectacular!

MMMM... ok.. we are in a food coma and off to watch a DVD.

Cheers!

Pitchforks

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 18:33:53 GMT

He should know. He�s been handing out the pitchforks.
President Obama also apparently warned bankers NOT to pay back the TARP money too soon. WHY?!?
JPMorgan�s Dimon spoke first. He began by complimenting the president on the economic team he�d assembled. And he said his industry needs to explain more directly to the American people that the economic recovery plans are already working. Dimon also insisted that he�d like to give the government�s TARP money back as soon as practical, and asked the president to �streamline� that process.

But Obama didn�t like that idea � arguing that the system still needs government capital.

Worlds greatest orator??

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 18:17:39 GMT

Barack Obama, the World's Greatest Orator (�all news organisations), didn't exactly cover himself in glory when the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson asked him a question about who was to blame for the financial crisis. Normally word perfect, Obama ummed, ahed and waffled for the best part of two and a half minutes. Here, John Crace decodes what he was really thinking ...

And its PRICELESS!

Nick Robinson: "A question for you both, if I may. The prime minister has repeatedly blamed the United States of America for causing this crisis. France and Germany both blame Britain and America for causing this crisis. Who is right? And isn't the debate about that at the heart of the debate about what to do now?" Brown immediately swivels to leave Obama in pole position.

There is a four-second delay before Obama starts speaking [THANKS FOR NOTHING, GORDY BABY. REMIND ME TO HANG YOU OUT TO DRY ONE DAY.] Barack Obama: "I, I, would say that, er ... pause [I HAVEN'T A CLUE] ... if you look at ... pause [WHO IS THIS NICK ROBINSON JERK?] ... the, the sources of this crisis ... pause [JUST KEEP GOING, BUDDY] ... the United States certainly has some accounting to do with respect to . . . pause [I'M IN WAY TOO DEEP HERE] ... a regulatory system that was inadequate to the massive changes that have taken place in the global financial system ... pause, close eyes [THIS IS GOING TO GO DOWN LIKE A CROCK OF SHIT BACK HOME. HELP]. I think what is also true is that ... pause [I WANT NICK ROBINSON TO DISAPPEAR] ... here in Great Britain ... pause [SHIT, GORDY'S THE HOST, DON'T LAND HIM IN IT] ... here in continental Europe ... pause [DAMN IT, BLAME EVERYONE.] ... around the world. We were seeing the same mismatch between the regulatory regimes that were in place and er ... pause [I'VE LOST MY TRAIN OF THOUGHT AGAIN] ... the highly integrated, er, global capital markets that have emerged ... pause [I'M REALLY WINGING IT NOW]. So at this point, I'm less interested in ... pause [YOU] ... identifying blame than fixing the problem. I think we've taken some very aggressive steps in the United States to do so, not just responding to the immediate crisis, ensuring banks are adequately capitalised, er, dealing with the enormous, er ... pause [WHY DIDN'T I QUIT WHILE I WAS AHEAD?] ... drop-off in demand and contraction that has taken place. More importantly, for the long term, making sure that we've got a set of, er, er, regulations that are up to the task, er, and that includes, er, a number that will be discussed at this summit. I think there's a lot of convergence between all the parties involved about the need, for example, to focus not on the legal form that a particular financial product takes or the institution it emerges from, but rather what's the risk involved, what's the function of this product and how do we regulate that adequately, much more effective coordination, er, between countries so we can, er, anticipate the risks that are involved there. Dealing with the, er, problem of derivatives markets, making sure we have set up systems, er, that can reduce some of the risks there. So, I actually think ... pause [FANTASTIC. I'VE LOST EVERYONE, INCLUDING MYSELF] ... there's enormous consensus that has emerged in terms of what we need to do now and, er ... pause [I'M OUTTA HERE. TIME FOR THE USUAL CLOSING BOLLOCKS] ... I'm a great believer in looking forwards than looking backwards.

Mmmm.. its late.. or early depending on where you are

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 07:24:44 GMT

Friday night for me.. well, actually its almost 1:30am on Saturday. Waiting on D to come home from playing sax. The Beast knows its almost time for him to arrive and is patiently awaiting him at the top of the stairs.

Ive been watching Iron Chef and spending money on iTunes.

Dinner tonight is all you get because Im tired and lazy and still have a sore throat. :P

Wild salmon that I poached in white wine and shallot butter and then made a little lemon butter pan sauce. Served with the best green beans Ive seen this year so far! Paired with an average Chardonnay- Meridian.

I got totally hungry around 12:30 so broke in to one of those cute little single Pringle packs that I bought for D's lunches- Sour cream and onion version. Not bad... I haven't had potato chips in years and forgot how good and salty they are! I swear, I could eat an entire large can of these things! Gahhh.. not a good idea.

D is off tomorrow night so Ill either make something special or we will go out. It may storm so might be a good night to stay home and eat by candle light. Just a thought...

We leave for vacation on the 11th and I wonder if we will SURVIVE until then!
Is it too late to start counting down the days? Is it too early to start packing?

Im ready. And now, Im off to bed.

Dinner and ... stuff

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 04:03:28 GMT

Worked from home this rainy Thursday due to a sore throat and general unwillingness to get up and put a suit on. Still not feeling great but not quite sick either. I hate when that happens! Either get SICK or get over it.

Dinner tonight was spicy pepper beef served over rice and paired with a nice Pinot Noir- Saintsbury, 2007. It goes WONDERFULLY with spicy food and was the last bottle of red in our wine fridge. *mental note* liquor store tomorrow.
I used red and green peppers and some left over mushrooms along with tons of garlic so now we will REEK of it for days.

Im on my third glass of Pinot and am now watching Lost in Space. Ive admitted it before... I love it. I own the collectors addition BOXED SET. What was surprising to me is that there was a need for a "collectors" addition. Note the use of the plural- collect-ORS. That means Im not the only one who watches it. Sadly, I have to watch it in secret so D doesnt make fun of me. Well, he always finds out and waves the DVD box around at me laughing. I love that man but he simply doesnt get my penchant for bad sci fi.

I know I wrote about this once before but the troublesome relationship between Dr. Smith and young Will Robinson is especially concerning to me tonight.
He has more than once clutched the boy inappropriately while attempting to coerce him into doing some manual labor on his behalf. Perky young Will falls for it every time but we cant blame him. Who could resist a brilliant mentor in a velvet tunic named Zachary? The other adults always seem to be looking the other way when it happens. Do you think the producers, even back then were aiming to secretly add homoerotic undertones to a family show?

I want to make a comment as well on tonights choice of space family attire. They made the risky choice of going with the deep forrest green velvet suits with yellow and orange trim. Now Im not trying to be judgemental as I lie here in bed in my very old "Queen of the fucking Universe" t-shirt but for the love of God...did anyone complain when wardrobe brought those out?

Here is something I have never wondered until now. They show the sleeping quarters and they are just tiny little cubes with a single bed. Did John and Maureen not sleep together? What about Judy? Did she NEVER sneak into Don's cube wearing a filmy silver peignoir for a little outer space.... maybe not.

Did ANYONE have one of these? I can assure you that had I known a toy robot exsisted when I was a child, I would have most certainly had one. Im bothered now that I didnt. I had almost everything. Why not this???
Even better, read the description on the box...

MOTORIZED!
Moves FORWARD!
Moving ARMS!
Lights BLINK!
Body... TURNS!

Holy shit how did I not have one of these?

Phone Goodness

Journalists seeking to talk a little foreign policy with high-profile Obama administration officials live from the G20 meetings in London this week were solicited for phone sex instead after ringing up the toll-free number given by the White House.

In a press release, the White House accidentally listed a sex line number for journalists seeking an "on-the-record briefing call with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and National Security Advisor Jim Jones to discuss the NATO summit."

But after dialing, a soft-voiced female recording that was clearly not Clinton asked for a credit card number if you "feel like getting nasty."

After several efforts to make sure that the phone number was correctly dialed, a call to the White House resulted in a corrected press release. "If you are having trouble dialing into the call, please try this number as an alternative," and listed the international line included for reporters abroad to dial.

In other good news:

The Obama budget passed without a single GOP vote:

The US House just passed another historic spending bill despite the fact that the US debt is so large that America couldn't qualify to join the EU if it wanted to.
President Obama expects the deficit level to be 12% of GDP this year larger than Great Britain's record 10% deficit to GDP.

Unfortunately, Chairman Zero continues to whine about the deficit Bush left him and at the same time, tell us he will "cut the deficit in half."

When is someone other than Fox news going to call BULLSHIT on this moron?

Traveling- a trip into my dreams

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 04:16:26 GMT

ABOUT THIS ARTIST

ABOUT THIS ARTIST

ABOUT THIS ARTIST

Who is he? In almost every dream...

ABOUT THIS ARTIST WHO READS MY MIND... and seems to know my dreams.

Pork fat rules

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 03:52:13 GMT

"Pork fat rulez.."
Heard this on an Emeril cooking show and think that hes right on the damned money.

Dinner tonight was stuffed pork chops- stuffed with spinach, sun dried tomatoes, herbs and several cheeses. I made a quick pan sauce of balsamic reduction and the juices from the chops. Served with garlic sauteed green beans and garlic mashed potatoes.

Wine was Kendall Jackson Chardonnay.. always good.

Im tired and kind of feeling crappy. I hope Im not coming down with something. Might just be allergies. Might be this dreary weather. Or then again, it might be total and complete depression about the direction our country is going.

Maybe its all of the above. Maybe I imagined it all and tomorrow is another day.

The first poem I ever memorized

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 04:49:02 GMT

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience,
your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look will easily unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously) her first rose

or if your wish be to close me,
i and
my life will shut very beautifully ,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands

Monday dinner

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 04:24:53 GMT

I roasted a turkey breast using a recipe from D's aunt. Rubbed in a marinade of dijon mustard, soy sauce and lemon juice and then topped with herbs and roasted. This was FANTASTIC! I planned it because D has rehearsal tomorrow night and we can have leftovers. Started with my famous Caesar salad which EVERYONE loves (even non salad lovers) and then turkey served with mashed potatoes and garlic sauteed green beans. Wine tonight was a really inexpensive Chardonnay- Meridian which was on sale for $8.99 and just great!

There is a story about my Caesar salad. I had the best Caesar salad of my LIFE in a small little steak house in Tulsa Oklahoma called "The Celebrity Club."
There was a little old man who had worked there for 20+ years and made that salad table-side. Oil, egg, anchovies, lemon, lots of fresh garlic and his secret which was a splash of French's yellow mustard. The Celebrity Club had amazing steaks and the biggest New Zealand lobster Ive ever eaten but the salad was the real star.
Last time we visited that place, we ordered the salad and were told that the guy killed himself a few years ago. No idea why... but I like to think that he knew how many people remembered him and his salad. I guess if you are going to do something, you should do it better than anyone else in the world.
I always think of him when I make it.

Goodie! More government!!

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 04:09:05 GMT

Thank GOD Obama has saved us from the perils of the summer veggie stand!!!

Seriously... DO YOU GET WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE? Has no one seen this before? Anyone study history?

Cosponsored by 36 other Congressmen, all Democrats, H.R. 875 would essentially transfer all state control over food regulation to the Food Safety Administration (FSA), a newly-established federal bureaucracy to be created within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Its implications point to the elimination of all independent, family farms as well as all organic farming operations due to overbearing federal regulations subjectively determined by FSA in favor of corporate factory farms. (Remember Russia???)

HR 875 sets up a MASSIVE new government bureaucracy called the Food Safety Administration, and compels anything known as a "food establishment" to register with the federal government (paying registration fees of course) and to submit to inspections that are at different intervals depending on the type of "food establishment" you are.

The (formerly) ubiquitous summer roadside vegetable stand appears to be both Category 3 and 5 "food establishments" since they sell "fresh produce in ready-to-eat raw form" and "stores, holds, or transports food products prior to delivery for retail sale".

The explicit exclusions in Section 3 (13)(B) do not exclude roadside vegetable stands.
Section 3 (14) explicitly declares "any farm" (no matter what the size) to be a "FOOD PRODUCTION FACILITY". Section 406 is a real doozy which places the burden of proof on the small farmer or roadside stand operator to demonstrate that none of their goods were participants in interstate commerce (the basis for this whole thing appears to be the Commerce Clause)

As a practical matter, a stand operator or small farmer can't guarantee where the stuff they're selling will be used once the customer drives away...so that basket of cherries that winds up in aunt Millie's pie two states away can throw you in hot water. I suppose the vendor could require each customer to sign a release guaranteeing the goods won't ever cross state lines, and simply refuse to sell to anyone with out of state plates and that might get them off the hook of this odious legislation.

hat tip to Ace
More here
And Here

Encounters

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 01:00:10 GMT

What is it about the grocery store that brings about such passionate emotions in me? Why is it that almost every time I go to the grocery store I end up in some kind of .... encounter?

Today, Im feeling pretty cheery. The snow is melting rapidly and it warmed up to almost 50 degrees. And while the lumps of snow along the roadsides that used to be snowmen made me a little sad, I am quite sure that Spring is just around the corner. In honor of that, I go in search of rack of lamb. (spring lambs and all that... )

Immediately I notice that my produce man friend who I now call "veggie man" is no where to be seen. Perhaps he is hiding but no matter I am in no mood to tangle with him today even though there is great cause. To my right is a bin with a sign above it that clearly states: Blood Oranges. In the bin are mangoes. While pondering this I decide that it might just be Veggie Man's idea of a joke. He will go home this evening with a smirk and laugh over his plate of fresh kale and know that some hapless shopper made a blood orange sauce out of mango. I suppose we all have our petty torments.

Im posting both just to prove my point about the vast difference.

Blood orange Mango

Something else that vexes me greatly. Why do we need entire bins for things like yucca root? WHO buys these items? In all my shopping days, I have never once seen a person at the check out with a basket full of yucca root. Ive never even seen anyone with ONE yucca root. Surely someone must be purchasing these items but WHO? And another question. Why bundle popular items like asparagus and broccoli TOGETHER in one bin while giving yucca its own? It makes me wonder about my little Veggie Man and what might have happened to him as a child.

Yucca root (seriously)

Anyway. Lovely rack of lamb selected along with some other items I head down the aisle where the olive oil resides. Half way down and in the MIDDLE of the aisle with her cart turned at an angle so absolutely no one can get around her is one of our Real Housewives of Johnson County in her lavender yoga outfit chatting away on her phone. She had several of those reusable"earth" bags in her cart to haul her groceries in and nothing else.

I dislike her immediately.

Shoppers are beginning to queue up on either side of her cart, each looking too timid to ask her to move lest they interrupt her very important phone call. I observed this for a moment or two, pushing my way through the 4 shoppers that were on my side. The woman never even ONCE looked at any of the others, nor did she move her cart. The conversation seemed to involve a discussion around a play date for her toddler and how she wasn't sure that she wanted him to associate with some other child. I for one had enough. I may have been the only one.

In the moments before I took action I imagined the other shoppers cheering for me and clapping and thanking me for saving the day. Of course how we imagine things is rarely the way they work out. I pushed past the shy looking man who was closest to her cart and could see that he just wanted to get past. I nodded him out of the way, letting him know with just my eyes that real help had arrived. Chatty Cathy continued to lean on her cart and ramble, not looking at anything in particular. I eased my cart toward hers and then, bumped it.

Ok, it was more than a bump but less than a crash. Well, crash was the sound it made but not quite the intent. "Cathy" turned around quickly with a shocked look on her face, looking from her cart to me and back to her cart. "Pardon me" I said. Pushing again a little less forcefully. It was clear that her cart was not only blocking me but the other 7 people who surrounded her. She then acted as if she just realized she wasn't the only person in the entire store.

I looked at my fellow shoppers, waiting for support (or cheers!) and all I saw were cowering sheep! So much for my hero's welcome. Moving her cart just the tiniest bit as if to kindly accommodate me, she narrowed her eyes at me and waved me around with one perfectly manicured hand, still clutching the phone to her ear with the other.

This was a line in the sand. I wasn't going to try and squeeze past her, oh no. The man decided he wanted no part of this and crept away pushing his cart in the other direction. The two women on my side stood with their mouths open, ready to scurry at my next move. The elderly woman on the other side of the obstruction stood with her arms folded as if she were a referee. I pulled my cart back a little and then PUSHED hard knocking Cathy's cart over to the side and bumping it in to her pristine yoga outfit making her nearly drop her phone.

Plowing past, I glanced at her over my shoulder seeing her face aghast with disbelief and now wordless. I dismissed my fellow spineless shoppers and moved on.

As I reached the point nearest to her, I leaned closer and said calmly, "Two words... CART MANAGEMENT." I peeked back only once seeing the rest of the shoppers cautiously moving around her while she stood in immovable shock.

Lamb chops for dinner dears!

I LOVE A GOOD SUNDAY.

More good news on the GIVE act

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 18:37:40 GMT

The "Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act" (or GIVE Act), purports to expand the spirit of volunteerism in America. It is, instead, an insidious mechanism that uses taxpayer funds to build a uniformed cadre of paid ACORN "volunteers" who will be solely focused on re-electing Barack Obama in 2012. Thanks American tax payers!

It passed the House days ago and its Senate counterpart (the ill-named "Serve America Act") passed on Thursday. The two acts will be reconciled by the House next week and likely signed into law immediately thereafter.
The Senate bill purports to provide "$5.7 billion to aid 250,000 volunteers across the country in the arenas of health care, energy, environment and education."

But the Senate killed an amendment that would have prevented funds from going to ACORN. This means that ACORN, which stands accused of massive voter registration fraud by its own former employees, will probably receive billions more in taxpayer money. Remember that ACORN is a nakedly partisan and accused criminal operation that has allegedly co-opted more elections than any group in history.

The proposed amendment, offered by Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), would simply have prevented charitable groups with political arms from receiving funding under the GIVE Act. Vitter noted that, "...At the heart of this debate is whether this new federal bureaucracy would, in effect, politicize charitable activity around the country, which we certainly do not want."

Untrue. Democrats want it.

This is criminal: Most of the $5.7 billion is likely to find its way into ACORN's coffers and then help directly fund Democrats and more government expansion.

Is ANYONE awake out there?

And there is this, from Doug Ross back in February:

A little-publicized Department of Defense Directive (Number 1404.10) establishes a "DoD Civilian Expeditionary Workforce" and rescinds a prior directive dealing with the emergency use of civilian personnel.

The new 1404.10 cancels the prior directive of the same designation ("Emergency-Essential (E-E) DoD U.S. Citizen Civilian Employees"), which was issued in 1992 under President Clinton. The 1992 directive specifically deals with overseas deployments of civilian personnel. It does not mention terms like "restoration of order" or "stability operations", prominently featured in the new directive.

In fact, those functions are central to the mission of President Obama's new DoD Civilian Expeditionary Workforce:

Members of the DoD Civilian Expeditionary Workforce shall be organized, trained, cleared, equipped, and ready to deploy in support of combat operations by the military; contingencies; emergency operations; humanitarian missions; disaster relief; restoration of order; drug interdiction; and stability operations of the Department of Defense in accordance with DoDD 3000.05...

The 1992 directive mentions the term "overseas" no fewer than 33 times.

The 2009 directive does not mention the term "overseas" in the body of the directive even once.

Consider the nebulous terms used: "...contingencies, emergency operations... restoration of order... and stability operations."

Who will define "Contingencies"? "Restoration of order"? "Stability operations"?
Regular readers of this blog will know that I'm not exactly a fan of wingnut conspiracy theories.

But could anyone tell me why the 1992 directive needed an update?

This new directive is odd, coming as it does after campaign promises by Obama to establish a paramilitary "civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded" as our military. His words, not mine.

The Democrats' renewed push for the ill-named "Fairness Doctrine" is another harbinger of enhanced government control, far beyond what the Constitution authorized. And this directive appears to be of the same genre.

I'll leave the ramifications as an exercise for the reader.

Depending on dependency

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 17:52:08 GMT

BRAVO!!!

From today's CAPITALISM MAGAZINE
Richard M. Salsman hits a home run...

The political left-wing in America and most Democrats are hopeful, even gleeful, that �Obamanomics� might �vanquish� Reaganomics, [1] that tax-hiking, pork-dispensing schemes aimed at boosting consumption and government (a la John Maynard Keynes) [2] will displace tax-cutting, supply-side policies devoted to boosting production and profitable entrepreneurship (a la Jean-Baptiste Say). In the process, Obama�s allies are unfazed about plunging stock prices, or, absurdly, blame the plunges on past tax-cutting. Conditions only worsen with each new intervention, but interventionists don�t really care about improving the economy.[3]

In response, conservative critics insist that Mr. Obama�s $787 billion �stimulus� plan (enacted by Congress on February 17th), his $275 billion �foreclosure mitigation� plan (proposed February 18th) and $3.6 trillion budget for 2010 (submitted to Congress on February 26th) �won�t work.�

Oddly, these �critics� bestow undeserved compliments on their political opponents � and thus provide them with crucial political cover. By implicitly praising their enemy�s underlying motives, these critics effectively shield them from justified criticism. The critics who argue this way � including Rush Limbaugh � unwittingly carry water for President Obama. By insisting the schemes �won�t work,� the �critics� mean they won�t work to grow the economy � won�t revive the stock market � won�t fix the banks � won�t attract capitalists on strike � won�t bolster job creation � and won�t lift the poor out of poverty. Well, all that�s true, but it�s false to assume the Obama administration actually wants to achieve these things.

In fact, it wants no such thing.

It has other ideas -- a wholly opposite aim.

Besides a desire for re-election, shared by all politicians, at root the Obama Administration wants individuals and firms to become more dependent on government. That requires not merely a more intensive redistribution of wealth to the needy (whether needy people or needy firms), but also programs and plans that might proliferate the ranks of the needy, even if that requires turning otherwise healthy people and firms into unhealthy, needy ones.

Of course, this rather bearish aim might anger or disillusion the electorate, if they truly prized their independence and/or recognized the cynical aim for what it was; but if not, then to ensure re-election Team Obama can easily deflect such anger to the usual scapegoats: �Wall Street,� �the rich,� �predatory lenders,� and �tax-cutters.� This is how entities like Barney Frank get reelected and how FDR won three consecutive presidential terms amid the stagnant 1930s which his New Deal schemes helped cause. If you find the Obama Administration insisting that it wants the economy to revive and the successful to prosper, you can be sure that it is only to ensure it will have wealth producers to milk � like barnyard cows.

There are many examples of the dependence motive, whether from last year�s campaign trail or Obama�s initial legislative schemes this year. In April 2008, during the primaries, he said the capital gains tax rate ought to be doubled, even if doing so would bring lower tax revenues, because, he insisted, the higher rate achieves more �fairness.� Obama is willing to sacrifice others and their wealth � and even the government�s revenue collections � to satisfy what he calls economic �justice.� During the campaign we also heard Obama unabashedly defend his �spread the wealth� bias (to �Joe the Plumber.�). More recently, we�ve seen his administration admitting that it doesn�t pay much attention to Wall Street (unless it is bailing out its deadbeats, like Citibank) and doesn�t really care if stock prices happen to be plunging. They have other aims.

That Obama and his cohorts want to breed dependency is clear from the details in their plans; it�s not that �the devil is in the details,� as so many claim, for in fact the devil (the evil) is in the overarching theme (redistribution).

The bailouts and attached strings make the banks more dependent on government.
Caps on executive pay repel talented managers and leave in place bureaucratic ones dependent on political whims.
A proposed �% tax on all security trades would hurt liquidity and boost volatility while making the exchanges more dependent on government.
Extensions of unemployment �insurance� (subsidies) will leave the jobless more dependent on the state, while making the job-holding taxpayer poorer and also more dependent on government.
Socialized medicine will make health-care providers and patients more reliant on government than they already are.
Foreclosure �mitigation� will turn mortgage deadbeats into squatters, dependent on the state as landlord.
The �rich� are to lose their tax deduction for charitable giving, which will make charities more dependent on government for funding.
�Cap and trade� taxes and rules will make energy users less able to access cheaper, more abundant fossil fuels, making them more dependent on the scarce, costly �alternative energies� rationed by the EPA and Energy Department.
Mortgage �cram-downs� will render lenders more dependent on the whims of altruistic bankruptcy judges.
The �Employee Free Choice Act� would abolish the secret ballot for elections on unionization and would violate the free choice of employers while making them more dependent on the biased National Labor Relations Board.
Even local governments will become more dependent on the federal government, as strings are attached to the receipt of �stimulus� funds.
Obama-style rule entails breeding greater dependence by people (and firms) on government.

Of course, we�ve seen that when Republicans gain power their need-based policies also tend to breed dependence; but in general, the political right wing in America doesn�t have this as their main goal or even their modus operandi.

The Obama-style Democrats, in contrast, want to breed dependency; it provides them a sense of power and control over others, a level of control that they crave.

If there still exists in you � the reader and patriotic American � anything like the spirit of independence that made this country great, you�ll actively denounce and foreswear Washington�s cynical and liberty-crushing institutionalization of servile dependence.

Questions

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 07:51:40 GMT

Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.

Try to raise up the sunken feelings of this enormous past; your personality will grow stronger, your solitude will expand and become a place where you can live in the twilight, where the noise of other people passes by, far in the distance.

In one creative thought a thousand forgotten nights of love come to life again and fill it with majesty and exaltation. And those who come together in the nights and are entwined in rocking delight perform a solemn task and gather sweetness, depth, and strength for the song of some future poets.

if there is nothing you can share with other people, try to be close to Things; they will not abandon you; and the nights are still there, and the winds that move through the trees and across many lands; everything in the world of Things and animals is still filled with happening, which you can take part in.

From one of my most favorites: Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

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The blizzard that almost was

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 07:07:58 GMT

For two days they predicted a Spring blizzard. People rushed to the grocery stores and stocked up like they would never be able to shop again. For our household, I bought key provisions like good wine, smoked gouda, french bread and some ice cream to make D's favorite bananas foster. Hey, I know my priorities!

It started this morning with a cold, hard rain that later turned into icy pellets that crackled on our windows and froze over the screens. By 1pm it warmed up to 32 degrees with a driving rain again and the wind howled at 55mph. There were tiny needles of ice and finally the snow came about 3pm. I tried to capture how heavy the snow was blowing but the camera couldn't seem to catch it.

I sat by my fire and listened to the wind and watched the huge white flakes blow. I like to imagine we were in a cabin deep in the woods with plenty of food and firewood and just let the snow come down! You can almost see how heavy it was blowing in this picture.

D's gig got canceled thank God so we had him home on a Saturday night which was rare and fabulous. In the mood for comfort food, I made my Mom's recipe pot roast with huge chunks of meat, potatoes and baby carrots and served with hot buttered yeast rolls. Desert was of course.. bananas foster.. with hot rum and brown sugar sauce... mmmmmmmmmmm......

The Beast is never so content as she is when she is by the fire with both of us.

I know it will all melt away tomorrow but for tonight, Im happy to be here in our bed, listening to Bach with D snoring and The Beast snoring even louder and a big fire keeping us toasty.

New World Order

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 18:39:07 GMT

A United Nations document on �climate change� that will be distributed to a major environmental conclave next week envisions a huge reordering of the world economy, likely involving trillions of dollars in wealth transfer, millions of job losses and gains, new taxes, industrial relocations, new tariffs and subsidies, and complicated payments for greenhouse gas abatement schemes and carbon taxes � all under the supervision of the world body.

Those and other results are blandly discussed in a discretely worded United Nations �information note� on potential consequences of the measures that industrialized countries will likely have to take to implement the Copenhagen Accord, the successor to the Kyoto Treaty, after it is negotiated and signed by December 2009. The Obama administration has said it supports the treaty process if, in the words of a U.S. State Department spokesman, it can come up with an �effective framework� for dealing with global warming.

The 16-page note, obtained by FOX News, will be distributed to participants at a mammoth negotiating session that starts on March 29 in Bonn, Germany, the first of three sessions intended to hammer out the actual commitments involved in the new deal.

In the stultifying language that is normal for important U.N. conclaves, the negotiators are known as the �Ad Hoc Working Group On Further Commitments For Annex I Parties Under the Kyoto Protocol.� Yet the consequences of their negotiations, if enacted, would be nothing short of world-changing.

Getting that deal done has become the United Nations� highest priority, and the Bonn meeting is seen as a critical step along the path to what the U.N. calls an �ambitious and effective international response to climate change,� which is intended to culminate at the later gathering in Copenhagen.

Just how ambitious the U.N.�s goals are can be seen, but only dimly, in the note obtained by FOX News, which offers in sparse detail both positive and negative consequences of the tools that industrial nations will most likely use to enforce the greenhouse gas reduction targets.

The paper makes no effort to calculate the magnitude of the costs and disruption involved, but despite the discreet presentation, makes clear that they will reverberate across the entire global economic system.

(snip)
Among the tools that are considered are the cap-and-trade system for controlling carbon emissions that has been espoused by the Obama administration; �carbon taxes� on imported fuels and energy-intensive goods and industries, including airline transportation; and lower subsidies for those same goods, as well as new or higher subsidies for goods that are considered �environmentally sound.�

Other tools are referred to only vaguely, including �energy policy reform,� which the report indicates could affect �large-scale transportation infrastructure such as roads, rail and airports.� When it comes to the results of such reform, the note says only that it could have �positive consequences for alternative transportation providers and producers of alternative fuels.�

In the same bland manner, the note informs negotiators without going into details that cap-and-trade schemes �may induce some industrial relocation� to �less regulated host countries.� (read: somewhere OTHER than the United States) Cap-and-trade functions by creating decreasing numbers of pollution-emission permits to be traded by industrial users, and thus pay more for each unit of carbon-based pollution, a market-driven system that aims to drive manufacturers toward less polluting technologies.

The note adds only that industrial relocation �would involve negative consequences for the implementing country, which loses employment and investment.� (read: the United States) But at the same time it �would involve indeterminate consequences for the countries that would host the relocated industries.�

(snip)
In other cases, as when discussing the �increased costs of traditional exports� under a new environmental regime, the report confines itself to terse description. Changes in standards and labeling for exported goods, for example, �may demand costly changes to the production process.� If subsidies and tariffs affect exports, the note says, the �economic and social consequences of dampening their viability may, for some countries and sectors, be significant.�

Read the whole story here

Read the information note here

Dinner for one and a half

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 05:24:52 GMT

Its an unusually cold and wet night and we are expecting at least 8 inches of snow in the morning. Im now snuggled in to our big giant marshmallow of a bed and The Beast is in her bed next to me snoring, with a small collection of essential bones.

Sorry for the crappy photo but I took it with my phone just to prove Im telling the truth!

Dinner for us, because D is out playing sax was a turkey, red onion, basil, tomato and provolone cheese panini and some bisque I made with the 4 beefsteak tomatoes I had that were getting soft. Wine tonight is a lovely Sav Blanc- Highfield, in a toast to my virtual friend Dark who has become a passionate fan of this fantastic wine.